What do you consider poaching? Here is the scene. We were on the lake yesterday evening and the cove we are in gets crowded. It is pretty common because the cove has a marina in it and towards the end of the day everyone is returning to load their boats and go home. We decide to go across the lake to another more private spot. On the way, my wife spots a boat heading for the same cove. The boat has a good 400 yard lead on us, so she guns it! I realize, she is racing this boat to the cove! I ask her what she is doing and she says getting to the cove first. We end up passing the boat just as we both enter the cove. She then starts to race the other boat to be the first in the water when I stop her. We end up getting in an argument about etiquette. She says first in the cove and riding claims it and has the right away. I say racing another boat that is half a lake in front of you and passing them at the last minute is rude and disrespectful. We ended up leaving the cove and letting them have it but my wife was hot! I would rather make friends than enemies.

Does your wife have testicles? Do you have a vagina? Just kidding man, that's a funny story though. you can have a couple of boats in one area if you work together. But I feel ya the other boat probably was a little pee'd.

This cove is really only big enough for one boat. If two boats run it, the rollers never clear. This is also a boat that let us have the same cove a couple days earlier. They came in while I was ridding and sat and waited for us to finish riding before they started riding.

"Ok, so we were on our way to our favorite cove so we could get our shred on because the lake was really crowded. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, this crazy ass woman came flying past us in another boat. She's racing us to get to the cove so her husband can hog all the good water! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? They got there first, but thought better of messing with our water and peaced out. I was getting ready to roll up on them and give them a real piece of my mind, but my wife said that would be immature and childish, so I let it go and had the best set of my life."

props. to your wife for having aggression and passion to ride and secure some smooth water. props to you for doing the right thing. you guys had hot wakeboard make up sex didn't you? Brown chicken brown cow.

We have been stomping tricks on our lake for so long that people have come and gone in the sport (15 years). So people just see us pull up and bam, they literally go to another stretch of lake and say sorry on there way out. it's kind of comical actually were like stay hang out but what ever, we are not going to complain about smooth water and a little respect.

But we show the same respect to the bare footers, Sunday morning 8:00am until 10:30 it is there stomping grounds.

slalom skiers 7:00 am to 9:00am all weekend in another area, we don't run our boats faster than 2 miles an hour.

Wakeboarders have from 9:30am until dark we are not complaining, plus who the hell rides at 7:00am? not me.

Share yes, but she was planning on being the first and run them out. The thing that got me mad is when the rolls are reversed, she complains about how inconsiderate people are now and have no respect anymore. Her justification is that it happens to us all the time so why can't we do it.

So if a fisherman or a family pontoon boat was there first, is it proper etiquette to ride anyway? I must admit I have mixed feeling on the situation and curious how far people are willing to extend the 'no poach' courtesy to others.

We generally share, which works fairly well as long as everyone kind of knows how and when to ride the lines, but this is not always the case.

Robert - I bet everyone straps on their seat belts when your wife drives down the interstate.

You did the right thing IMO. I would have been embarrassed had my wife done that, but that's just me. If they were that far ahead of you and it was obvious they were going there to ride, I would have been like "dang it, just missed it by a couple of minutes". I'm not saying it was right or wrong, just what I would have done. At what point did they realize she was racing to get there first?

"On the way, my wife spots a boat heading for the same cove. The boat has a good 400 yard lead on us, so she guns it! I realize, she is racing this boat to the cove! I ask her what she is doing and she says getting to the cove first. We end up passing the boat just as we both enter the cove. She then starts to race the other boat to be the first in the water when I stop her. We end up getting in an argument about etiquette. She says first in the cove and riding claims it and has the right away"

"This cove is really only big enough for one boat. If two boats run it, the rollers never clear. This is also a boat that let us have the same cove a couple days earlier. They came in while I was ridding and sat and waited for us to finish riding before they started riding"

I'm going to try to say this without being a complete dick but seriously? If it were completely anonymous it would still be rude, but as you stated, they came into your cove a couple of days earlier and were courteous and considerate of your space and water conditions. I mean think about that!!!! This explains why I have so much frustration with the general public.

Robert: Your PIMP hand is strong. I take my hat off to you my brother. If more people thought like you the lake and driving to work would be so much better. You did the right thing. And karma will reward you. Don't expect the masses to be a respectful as you but acknowledge it when someone shows proper form. IMO Ski'rs has worked like this for years. Sharing the small sections of smooth water. Spend some time at the local ski corse and see how they do it. Yea they seem like Nazi's to people who don't have a clue But IMO when you have such a small section of the lake and smooth water that everyone want's there has to be some kind of rules / man ethics so that everyone has equal claim to the butter.

And as far as un written rules> Not in any order #1 Don't be upset at fishermen when poaching the No ski zone. #2 IMO Tubes and other towables should show respect and NOT use the butter when other people want it for Ski/Wakeboarding #3 Same go's for wakesurfing. #4 No power turns

If the other boat/people are cool, offer to share pulls on one boat and leave the other one anchored. That way everyone gets to ride. We do this at the cove I frequent quite a bit and I have made more friends and meet more people to ride with in the future. This may not work in all situations, but just another idea for a small cove.

That's kind of what I was getting at (patrick's response). IF (Big "if" here), there was enough time to share it would have been cool to chat it up, trade off runs and get to know each other. Not only does this help: spread the stoke, network with more people (have you ever been short a third and needed someone? and help educate each other...it creates unison and teamwork in case anyone else tries to poach the cove when one of you is there. Now next time if you guys were trading off runs and a tuber comes flying into the cove you have two boats telling them to leave rather than one.

Also...you did the right thing...they were in front of you already and headed to the spot (clearly). Personally, my boat is propped down pretty good so we rarely cruise more than 28-30 mph. If someone went flying by me to a cove that I was already in route for and claimed it "first" I would definitely take an issue with it...offering a free pull or something to demonstrate why I cannot "cruise" any faster (lots of weight). Then kindly implying that I planned on riding the same spot.

The lake we are on has a huge floating bride cutting across it. With the winds there is always one side that is calmer than the other...

Its a wide enough bridge so the way I see it is you go along the bridge, turn and go up the shore for a bit and let the bridge calm down then go back and repeat on the other shore. You may get a bit worse water, but you let other people enjoy the bridge space, when they have finished their section you get to take a pass.

Sadly most other boats, even after we have been out for a while doing this, will just come up and start going back and forth along the bridge chopping it up for everyone.

That the problem with such a big lake...

I'm all for sharing, let one guy ride the cove, while they are switching up you take it for a bit. Alternating through and everyone gets a decent run

I have senority as the wakeboarder on the lake, so any crew that is in my pass regardless if they were there first will be asked to move. If they don't move, I will just run that pass and with the size of our wake and rollers, they will move. It took us years to get to the top of the food chain on the lake, and we take advantage of it.

What do yall think about rivers? We get out early in the morning and just head down stream - figure we annoy all the fishers for just a short time vs. a few for a few hours. Should we try to work one section? We very rarely encounter another wakeboard boat or ski boat.

I have senority as the wakeboarder on the lake, so any crew that is in my pass regardless if they were there first will be asked to move. If they don't move, I will just run that pass and with the size of our wake and rollers, they will move. It took us years to get to the top of the food chain on the lake, and we take advantage of it.

I had to quote that as to make sure it never changed. May be the most douche comment ever on this forum....and there have been many....

E.J.- totally agree. Attitudes (and actions) like that give the sport a bad rep. If someone is in my favorite spot, I'll go somewhere else and wait for them to move. So you lost one evening of riding in your favorite cove to someone who didn't know better, big deal. Just come back the next day.

Besides, what kind of a lake has a "food chain"? That's a little melodramatic.

Well, to gain seniority on my lake. We got all the crews together and had a huge break dance fight on the deck of my over priced and retarded excuse for a wakeboard boat, X80. Now when I pull up to ride I just blast Africa Bambata and everyone gets their stuff and peace's out. So, if anyone wants to challenge me for my spot as senior wakeboarder on my lake. I've always got some cardboard and my Breakin' soundtrack on board.

I have to admit, your wife gets props for enthusiasm and er . . . manliness, but I think you took the higher moral road. You exemplify the type of boater that makes the sport better (and more enjoyable) for everyone. You may not have gotten the BEST water for this run, but as you stated, you have had it before, and I'm sure you'll have it again.

Your wife's pair is definitely draging on the ground, but prop's for taking the high road and giving up the butter to it's rightful recepients.

Kyle.... That's messed up. When I go to the most populated wakeboarding lake in arkansas, I see local Pro riders put their 313's, 7's, and KGB's on hold so that the guy who just landed his first 180 ride. I respect that more than a "food chain"